Gartner Survey Finds 42 Percent of IT Leaders Have Invested in Big Data or Plan to Do So Within a Year

After a few years of experimentation and early adopter successes, 2013
will be the year of larger scale adoption of big data technologies,
according to Gartner, Inc. According to a worldwide Gartner survey of IT
leaders, 42 percent of respondents stated they had invested in big data
technology, or were planning to do so within a year.

"Organizations have increased their understanding of what big data is
and how it could transform the business in novel ways. The new key
questions have shifted to 'What are the strategies and skills required?'
and 'How can we measure and ensure our return on investment?'" said Doug
Laney, research vice president at Gartner. "Most organizations are still
in the early stages, and few have thought through an enterprise approach
or realized the profound impact that big data will have on their
infrastructure, organizations and industries."

Organizations are undertaking their big data initiatives in a rapidly
shifting technological landscape with disruptive forces that produce and
demand new data types and new kinds of information processing. They turn
to big data technology for two reasons: necessity and conviction.
Organizations are becoming aware that big data initiatives are critical
because they have identified obvious or potential business opportunities
that cannot be met with traditional data sources, technologies or
practices. In addition, media hype is often backed with rousing use
cases.

"This makes IT and business leaders worry that they are behind
competitors in launching their big data initiatives. Not to worry, ideas
and opportunities at this time are boundless, and some of the biggest
big data ideas come from adopting and adapting ideas from other
industries," said Frank Buytendijk, research vice president at Gartner.
"Still, this makes it challenging to cut through the hype when
evaluating big data technologies, approaches and project alternatives."

Despite these challenges, Gartner predicts that by 2015, 20 percent of
Global 1000 organizations will have established a strategic focus on
"information infrastructure" equal to that of application management.

In anticipation of big data opportunities, organizations across
industries are provisionally collecting and storing a burgeoning amount
of operational, public, commercial and social data. Yet in most
industries — especially government, manufacturing and education —
combining these sources with existing underutilized "dark data" such as
emails, multimedia and other enterprise content often represents the
most immediate opportunity to transform businesses.

Gartner believes that by integrating and analyzing a variety of data
sources, not just individually, organizations can achieve the most
extraordinary business insights, process optimization and, of course,
decision making. Although most of the big data hype is about handling
the sheer size and speed of data available, our research shows that the
ultimate wins will be from those making sense of the broadening range of
data sources.

"Business and IT executives regularly say that information is one of
their company's greatest assets," said Mr. Laney. "Businesses are
increasingly managing and deploying information more effectively than
ever, but certainly not with the well-honed asset management discipline
applied to their traditional material, financial or other intangible
assets. The application of formal information valuation models will
allow IT, information management and business leaders to make
better-informed decisions on information management (IM), enrichment,
security, risks, purchasing, collection, usage, bartering,
productization and disposal."

Additional information is available in the Gartner Special Report "Big
Data, Bigger Opportunities: Investing in Information and Analytics." The
special report can be viewed at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/big-data/
and includes links to reports and video commentary that examine the
impact of big data on enterprises.

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology
research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related
insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every
day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government
agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and
professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a
valuable partner in over 13,000 distinct organizations. Through the
resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner
Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to
research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of
their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut, USA, and has 5,500 associates, including 1,400
research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more
information, visit www.gartner.com.